


Baseball Camp

by Westgate (Harkpad)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Auntie Nat - Freeform, Barton Family, F/M, Uncle Phil and Uncle Nick, barton family feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 16:44:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6666376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harkpad/pseuds/Westgate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an injury, Clint is home for a while. Cooper is upset at the injury, is worried about his baseball season, and generally wishes his Dad would just stay put. Clint manages a few things to make him feel better, including a gigantic pancake breakfast. For a tumblr  prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baseball Camp

The sun beating down on Clint’s shoulders felt like a warm blanket as he placed his crutches carefully. He was looking for Cooper, and Lila had said, “He’s out shooting. Again.” Today was Clint’s first day outside in a week, and the sun and soft smell of spring trees was more rejuvenating than the medicine SHIELD had sent home with him three days ago. He hobbled down the dirt path that led to their shooting range, and he stopped before Cooper saw him coming.

He watched his son knock, draw, breathe, and release, and he felt a flash of pride when the arrow hit the bullseye. Cooper was twelve, old enough to understand the safety rules of the range, old enough for a light draw set-up, and Clint loved that coming out here by himself was Cooper’s way of coping, just like Clint.

He wished the kid didn’t have any real coping to do, but Clint knew better. As Cooper gathered his arrows from the target area, Clint came closer and caught his son’s attention. “Hey, nice shot on that last one,” Clint said as he made it to a straw bale outside the fence and sat down carefully. Cooper looked over at Clint, his eyes drawn to Clint’s crutches for a moment, and then he went back to cleaning up. “You ready to come in for breakfast? Lila and I managed a good one today.”

Cooper brushed his tousled brown hair out of his face and sighed. “Yeah. Okay. You don’t have to wait, though. I’ll catch up.”

“I don’t mind waiting. Besides, I can make pretty good time with these things,” he said, waggling a crutch in a circle.

Cooper got a gleam in his eye that delighted Clint, and said, “You leave now. I bet I’ll beat you back to the house.”

Clint grinned and took off with a “You’re on,” over his shoulder. He had a few tricks with crutches to make himself faster – he’d had plenty of practice over the years – and he was two feet from the porch steps before Cooper managed to sprint past him and bound up to the front door before Clint could.

He was winded, though, and laughing. “How the heck do you do that, Dad?”

Clint slowed himself down and climbed the steps nonchalantly. “What do I always say, Coop?”

“Practice. Always practice.” Cooper held the door open for Clint and they went inside, both catching their breath.

“Do I want to know why my husband who has a broken ankle and lingering concussion effects is out of breath?” Laura asked as she scooped Nate up from his Pack-n-Play and set him in his high chair.

Clint planted a kiss on Laura’s cheek in place of an answer, and said, “Lila, are you ready to break the pancake-eating record in the nine year-old category?”

“Yeah!” She shouted, and pulled a platter piled high with pancakes from the oven where they’d been keeping warm.

They all sat down around the wooden table and Clint pulled a pancake from the stack and broke it into tiny pieces for Nate, who put the pieces in his mouth as fast as Clint could break them up. He also took breaks to smoosh some of the pancakes into his feathery blond hair, and Clint spent the first ten minutes at breakfast wiping Nate’s head and laughing, “In your mouth, little dude, put it in your mouth!” To which Nate would giggle back and shove more pancake into his hair.

Cooper ate quietly, and Lila peppered Laura with questions about her latest office design. “Mom, I really think a skylight would be better in the manager’s office. Then she’d have better energy and make more positive decisions.”

Clint stared. “You’re building your resume already, huh, kiddo?” He said after a beat. “I think you’ll be your mom’s assistant before she knows it.”

Laura laughed as Lila replied, around a mouthful of pancakes, “She already said she’d up my allowance by two dollars if I write my ideas out in proposal form every time. I already have a file on my computer for it.”

Clint blinked and wondered again how he got this lucky. “Cooper,” he asked, “Baseball season starts next month. Any word on which coach you’ll have this year?”

Cooper shrugged and piled more pancakes on his plate. “No. But Seth’s dad might do it. He played college ball at Duke, I guess.”

“That’s great,” Laura said, reaching over to stop the flood of syrup Cooper was pouring. “Seth’s dad seems like a kind guy. Maybe he’s a good teacher.”

Cooper sighed. “Not as good as Uncle Phil and Uncle Nick. I wish they could coach.”

Clint didn’t answer right away, but he pulled out his phone and opened a message. “You know they can’t coach your team, but look at this.” He showed Cooper his phone and bit his lip to keep from grinning too widely as his son’s face lit up.

“What?” Lila asked, leaning over to try and see the phone.

Cooper looked up at Clint with wide eyes. Clint nodded. ”They want to put on a week-long camp for you guys when you get your roster confirmed. They even have two guys we know on backup if they get called out, and it would only be for four hours in the mornings so they can work from here in the afternoons, but a morning camp for your team seemed like a good exchange for not being able to coach.”

Lila squealed, “Does that mean Uncle Phil and Uncle Nick will stay with us for a week?”

Laura laughed, “Yep. And Uncle Phil promised me he’d take vacation for it so that he only has to work in the afternoons if it’s an emergency.”

Lila got up from the table and did a little dance, which set Nate off giggling again. “Yippie!” She sang, “Uncle Phil can take me swimming and tell campfire stories and go on bike rides with me when he’s not teaching you baseball!”

Clint grinned as his kids both bounced around in their excitement over two of Clint’s best friends visiting. He was still trying to convince Natasha to take some time off that week as well, but he didn't want to say anything until it was confirmed. She was worried it would be too much company at once, but Clint and Laura both had been pestering her about it and saying that’s why they bought a big house.

Cooper settled back in his chair after high-fiving Lila, and Clint noticed his face was more relaxed than it had been an hour ago. As they scooped up the dishes after breakfast and Cooper stood at the sink rinsing them for the dishwasher, Clint leaned against his shoulder. “You went shooting pretty early this morning, kiddo,” he said gently.

Cooper sighed and nodded, digging harder at the food on the dish in his hands. “Yeah.”

“You okay?”

Cooper finished rinsing the dish and leaned over to put it in the dishwasher. “I really hate it when you get hurt at work. You hadn’t even been outside since you got home until today.”

Clint sighed. They had to work through this a couple times a year, it seemed, and it didn’t get any easier. He thought for a moment, though, and said, “You know, I think sometimes that I should stop. Find another job. So that you don’t have to worry. So that you’ll always have two parents, like I never had.” He squeezed Cooper’s shoulder. “You know I want you to always have two parents, right? I don’t go looking for trouble.”

Cooper grinned a little. “Auntie Nat says you do.”

“Auntie Nat says trouble always finds me. There’s a difference,” Clint replied.

Cooper shrugged. “You still get hurt either way.”

Clint sighed. “Yeah. I do, but here’s the thing. I don’t go out on missions as often as I used to, and even more importantly, you have two uncles who are going to drop everything to come give you some baseball lessons. You have an aunt who would come the second you called if you needed anything. You have grandma and grandpa Weston who would be here in a second if your mom called them. You have Jacob’s parents, Sara’s parents – your best friends who would do anything you needed at any time.”

Cooper slammed the dishrag in the sink with a splash. “That’s not the same. You know that, Dad. They can’t be you.”

Clint felt a warm glow at Cooper’s words, a bit of pride. “No,” he replied. “They can’t. And I hope to god that they never have to try, Cooper. But you have people like I never had. You have so many people who’ll make sure you grow up surrounded with love. And my job lets me help people who aren't as lucky as you. Who need someone to protect them so they won’t be alone, or hurt because they don't have someone. And they have you to thank for my help.”

“Me?” Cooper said, looking up at Clint. “Why?”

“Because you watch me leave every time I go out on a mission and you let me walk out that door and help them. You’re helping them, too, because you keep me happy and safe while I’m here with you guys, so that I can go out and help them when I need to. You’re part of my team, as much as Auntie Nat or Uncle Phil. And I need that like you’ll never understand. And I will always come back to you, as long as I can.”

“Will you be at the camp with Uncle Phil and Uncle Nick?” Cooper asked.

“Yep. I already put in for my vacation days. Unless a crisis comes up, I’ll be here.”

Cooper stayed quiet for another minute, washing dishes and avoiding Clint’s gaze. Finally, when he finished the dishes, he leaned against the counter and said, “Do you want to play Mario Kart with me? Is your head better enough for you to lose a few rounds?”

Clint laughed. “Lose a few? I’ll lose ‘em all against you, but sure. I’ll play.” And that was it. Cooper took Clint’s reassurances and moved on – another coping mechanism he’d developed over the years.

They settled in on the couch and played video games until Laura shooed them out of the house in the afternoon, and they worked on arrows for a while in the barn together before Cooper and Lila headed out for a bike ride. Clint settled himself on the porch with Laura, and he leaned against her and chuckled.

“The house really will be full if Nat comes, too,” he said.

Laura took a drink of her sun tea and nodded. “As it should be,” she replied, and pressed a kiss to Clint’s forehead. “Like we wanted.”


End file.
